President Talat on being invited to speak at a conference entitled "TRNC: Country of Opportunities" organized by the South-Southeastern Young Businessmen's Federation (GIAF) within the context of the enlarged Adana Meeting, said the Turkish Cypriot side was trying to properly explain the Cyprus issue, which up until now had not been properly understood by the world because of the Greek Cypriot side's lobbying activities, and the Turkish Cypriot side was aware that it wasn't going to be easy.

Indicating that the property issue in Cyprus was on the agenda and because of this Greek Cypriots were filing cases in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), President Talat said:

"From now on we'll also seek our rights in the ECHR. Greek Cypriots succeeded in securing a ruling from the ECHR for the return of their properties and receiving compensation. There are also Turkish Cypriots who are in the same situation but none of them have applied to the ECHR, because we didn't have such a policy. But now we do. We're struggling to prove to the world that it's not only the Greek Cypriots who had losses, but also the Turkish Cypriots".

Stating that the Greek Cypriot side's accession into the EU had resulted in important changes being made to the policies that were being followed regarding the TRNC, the President said:

"The Greek Cypriot side is clearly demonstrating that it has no intention of settling the Cyprus issue. From now on we have to be very careful and do whatever is necessary on time and without any mistakes. By playing the role of the good child, the Greek Cypriot side was accepted by the EU. When South Cyprus entered the EU it became stronger and with its population of 700,000 it had the audacity to play with the fate of 70 million".

He said although the UN settlement plan known as "The Annan Plan" was not great, the Turkish Cypriot side had accepted it because it thought that it was necessary to end the Cyprus problem.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Serdar Denktas said there was no possibility of reaching a settlement with the current Greek Cypriot administration and that a settlement was just a dream. He said the Turkish Cypriot side had to explain that the path being followed by the Greek Cypriot side was not the right path and would only lead to conflict.

Speaking on the BRT1 television channel's "AKTUEL" programme on December 10, Serdar Denktas said statements made by the Greek Cypriot side indicated that they had no intention of reaching an agreement with the Turkish Cypriots and that the developments after the forthcoming Presidential elections in the Greek Cypriot administration had to be followed.

Referring to the opening of the border gates between the two sides and the Lokmacı gate, he said the Greek Cypriot side was uncomfortable with all the border gates that had opened so far.

Reminding that before the border gates opened the two sides had agreed to open 11 border gates under the supervision of the UN, Serdar Denktas said after the Ledra Palace and Metehan gates had opened, the issue of opening the Bostancı and Lokmacı border gates also came onto the agenda.

He said when the Turkish Cypriot side started its studies to open the Lokmacı gate, as usual, the Greek Cypriot side objected to this because they were already uncomfortable with the existing gates that were open.